To say Carolina Academy football faces an uphill battle is a gross understatement.
The private school of roughly 200 students grades K-12 can only muster a varsity team of 14 players, the bulk of which are underclassmen and two eighth graders.
They’re on their third head coach in the last two seasons, have only won 8 games in the past three years and… well, that’s enough to make any Bob Cat fan greet Friday nights with the enthusiasm of a hog at a pig-pickin’.
Despite all that, head coach Rodney Griggs says the nucleus of the 2011 squad is strong, but given their lack of players, the team’s biggest obstacle this year will be staying healthy.
“They’ll have to play offense, defense, special teams. That’s the killer,” Griggs said. “If we have injuries, it will just decimate us.”
The only position the Bobcats do not have to worry about injury is quarterback. They are three players deep at field general, led by senior Grayson McClam who is the projected starter against St. Johns in the season opener on Aug. 19.
McClam is one three seniors and probably the team’s most experienced player. In addition to quarterback, he also takes care of the punting and place kicking duties. He says the key to success in 2011 is execution, staying healthy, and relying on the tiny group of experienced players to take charge.
“We got a few people that know what to do,” he said. “If we do what we can, we can compete.”
“As far as leadership goes, we’ve got excellent leadership,” Griggs said, pointing to McClam as well as Ken Parker and Garrett Weaver, two sophomores who will back up Grayson and help in the Bobcat back field.
Carolina Academy scrimmaged Robert E. Lee and Pee Dee academies on Aug. 8 and Griggs said there were plenty of positives to take away.
“We held our own in some places, we got beat in some places of course, all that was mental mistakes, most of it was mental,” he said. “So we can correct that.”
Griggs takes over the Bobcats from former head coach Scotty Phillips, who coached the team for the latter half of a 2009 season where the Cats went 3-7.
Griggs has coached 22 years in his career, including stints as head coach at Hudgens and Williamsburg academies. He was an assistant coach at Terrells Bay from 1999-2001 before he left coaching and for private business.
Griggs picked his clipboard back up at Dillon Christian in 2010, but was let go after taking that team 0-4 in the first four games of the season.
However, with Carolina Academy every game will be like a full season, playing with the knowledge that even just one untimely injury could destroy their chances of winning games.
“We’re going to take it week to week, and I know coaches say that all the time, but literally we have to do that because of our low numbers… If we keep people injury free, I think we can win some ball games,” Griggs said.
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